A sharply divided Kentucky Supreme Court recently denied paternity to a man with DNA proof supporting his claim to be the child’s biological father. The Kentucky high court based its decision on the marital presumption which bars any attack against a child’s legitimacy. Read this Time article for more information. Oklahoma is one of the 33 states mentioned in the article that allow attacks to the marital presumption but only within the first two years of the child’s life.
Source: Time.com.
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This is a serious problem in situations where the mother has hidden the birth of a child from the true father, or where she might not be certain who the father is. When there is a reliable scientific process available, such as DNA testing, the law should be changed to allow for the real father to be established. The current Oklahoma law can keep a parent from establishing a relationship he might really want and it can keep a child from knowing his or her true parent. It could also lead to health problems in the future if the child is uninformed about his or her true medical and health heritage. There needs to be a way to correct injustices in paternity like sometimes is available to clear unjustly convicted criminal defendants who are now being cleared by DNA testing.